American intelligence authorities believe a surface-to-air missile took down a passenger jet in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, a U.S. official said. It is not yet known if any Americans were on board the plane or who launched the strike.

A Ukrainian official said a passenger plane carrying 295 people was shot down Thursday over a town in the east of the country, and Malaysia Airlines tweeted that it lost contact with one of its flights over Ukrainian airspace.

Violence against the LGBT community in Eastern Europe continued this week with an attack by a group of 15 to 20 neo-nazis against the gay club "Pomada" (Lipstick) in Kiev. The melee was captured on video by a surveillance camera.

While world leaders are decrying Russian President Vladmir Putin for his country’s crackdown on gay rights and recent annexation of Crimea, conservative pundit and former GOP presidential hopeful Pat Buchanan seems to have nothing but praise.

At a Human Rights Campaign Gala this weekend in Los Angeles, Vice President Joe Biden delivered a powerful speech to 1,000 guests, putting the world on blast for human rights abuses by focusing on the floundering Employment Non-Discrimination Act.